Saviors of Lylat
by pkmnfan11
Summary: Three years after the Lylat war, Star Fox finds out that a base on Katina has been raided. Little did they know that it is just the beginning of something larger.
1. Distress

**Ugh, I might regret making this story as I find myself teetering close to the edge. With this, I might fall off... here we go!**

_Three years..._

_Three years since the Lylat War ended, _Fox thought as he leaned against the wall of the bridge of the _Great Fox_. His life hasn't really settled down after that. He sighed as one of the heavy blast doors opened with a_ hiss_ and a blue avian walked through. His name was Falco and he greeted his leader with a slight nod.

After the capture and evicting of Andross to a nearby system, the Cornerian Army settled down to the point where they were not needed. In reality, they were needed to keep the peace between the Cornerians and the Venomians. After the war faded into history, tensions between the two faded in to nothing and the Cornerians breathed easily knowing that the Venomians wouldn't fight them.

General Pepper looked exhausted after this notion and he had to have a week long vacation to calm his already fried nerves. As soon as he got back, he sent his men on a temporary vacation on Fortuna to have peace and quiet for the next week or two.

Soon enough, Fox and his team gathered in the ready room or, the equivalent of one. The room was at the front of the massive starship, it was actually the control room but that was where they did their briefings. Taking care to watch the news feed streaming into their ship, they sifted through the good news and bad coming to the top headline of the morning.

_Top secret_ _base raided on Katina:_

_ Late last night, a small group of criminals were sneaking into the government base holding blasters. The situation is being handled and controlled by the local police and the planetary army. The suspects have not been found._

"Third time this week," a rabbit wearing glasses and holding a steaming cup of coffee commented.

"Yeah and it might happen again with all this uncertainty going on. Pass or go?" Fox said, peeking out from under his shades to get a better look at the hare called Peppy.

Peppy thought for a moment, "If we pass, they might make more runs on the same base but if we go, they might flee and decide to pursue another base on the same planet. Knowing how criminals react when they see our Arwings, they will be gone even before we take them down." Fox sighed; he honestly didn't even know what to do. He then got an idea; he needed as much information as possible. There was only one who knew what happened.

"Slippy, open the com link to Katina." The toad nodded and he pressed a few buttons. A window then popped up showing the planet. Slippy then asked who he wanted to contact. Fox told him and he tapped the corresponding button. A final window popped up showing static and a box

C_ontacting..._

Soon enough, a picture of the person Fox tried to reach showed up. His name was Bill Grey commander of the Bulldog and Husky units over on Katina. His last name matched up the color of his fur, grey. He smiled warmly as if meeting a long lost friend.

"Fox?" He said, his smile widening, showing his teeth.

"Oh hey Bill, how is your base holding up?"

He shook his head, "Fine, we were attacked this morning by a Venomian fleet no damage done though."

"That's good, I was meaning to ask you something."

"Oh?"

"We heard that a nearby base was raided, any ideas as to whom?"

Bill shook his head, "We have no idea but we do know that they came from a nearby planet."

Fox thought for a moment getting no ideas from what he said. "We need clearance to check it out."

"I can give you the clearance that you need." Fox smiled, that was all he needed. He said his goodbyes and disconnected. There was still several hours to go before he even passed Fichina after that, there would be a day left before they even reached Katina.

While Fox, Falco, Slippy and Peppy found things to do, Fox's lover, a blue vixen named Krystal was laying in her bed, just waking up from a nice nap. Yawning, she got up and went straight for the lounge room. It was a round room adjacent to the bridge and the control room at the front of the ship. She navigated the halls of the_ Great Fox_ for a while, following the thought signatures from her team mates. She found herself in the room. Four seats surrounded a plasma TV in the exact center of the room. It was on, showing the news. Falco yawned and then turned to change the channel, noticing Krystal standing there. Falco motioned to Fox and the vulpine turned to greet her.

"You finally up?" He asked.

She giggled, "Yeah, where are we?"

"Close to Fichina." The vixen then pulled up a chair and then sat down next to Fox. They whittled away the hour chatting amongst each other when suddenly Rob's voice came over the com system

_"Distress signal found, report to control room immediately"_

_ Distress signal? _Fox thought and then rushed up to the control room. In there, the lights changed from the normal white to a deep red.

"Rob, give me the location." Fox commanded.

"Affirmative, signal found on Fichina"

"Lock on to the signal and put us into orbit, open the hanger door." The robot did his bidding. The ship lurched to the left and a white planet showed up on the radar and out the plasma-proof window. It was a relatively large planet, the surface looked white and clouds covered most of the planet. The team navigated the grey and white halls of the _Great Fox_. The doors opened ahead of them when they passed a certain point. They neared a crossroads and took a right. They soon found themselves in a spacious room. Four Arwings and a Cloudrunner were docked and ready to go. Their respective canopies opened up as the members climbed in. Said canopy closed above their heads. The HUD directly in front of them sprung to life. A diorama of the ships appeared with a blue bubble around it. The coms were engaged and they checked their G-Diffuser.

"We are ready to go. Rob, open the hanger gate and unlock our ships."

"Affirmative" Slowly the gate before them opened. The green lights indicated that the vacuum wouldn't penetrate the ship, sending the pilots to their possible doom if they weren't in their ships. Fox nudged the yolk back, the Arwing hovered and he kicked it into high gear. With a loud noise, the ship blasted out of the hanger bay and out into space. The thrill of piloting washed back over the lupine as he headed toward the planet.

"Fox, who do you think sent the distress signal?" Krystal asked.

"Not sure, Rob, send the ship with us." The robot did so. Soon, the _Great Fox_ was beside them. They neared the atmosphere and it suddenly got warmer in there. Fox quieted the alarms going off by initiating reentry procedure. The cockpit cooled off and the surface was in view. It was a barren and lifeless planet, snow constantly covered the ground and snow was falling occasionally peppered with breezes that sent the temperature down to forty below. His team locked onto the signal sending them to a small clearing. They landed, melting some snow but blowing away the rest and headed toward the signal. The signal was moving so they had to be constantly on the move. Fox's sharp eyes detected something on the ground not too far ahead. He motioned for them to come.

A figure was lying on the snow, shivering despite the fur covering the body.

"Rob, activate the onboard teleports to send the signal up to the ship." The robot beeped in reply and a blue light surrounded the body and then shot up.

"Ah, it was a rescue eh?" Peppy commented.

"Lets get back to the ships, it is freezing out here."

Five minutes later, they boarded their respective ships and blasted off interested on who they found on the surface of the ruthless planet.

Once there, they went into the medical bay. Sure enough, the body lying there was still alive. All her fur was white, making her an asset in the snow but a hindrance in the dark. Sets of wires were hooked up and it fed her vital information. All she wore was jeans and a t-shirt. Boots covered her feet and warmed them up to comfortable temperatures. A black jacked covered her t-shirt so at least she won't be totally visible in the night. Her eyes snapped open, out of focus for a second or two. She tried to get up but was stopped.

"You need rest, getting stuck on a frozen wasteland tires you out." Fox quipped. The vulpine can clearly see that she was a wolf, her blue eyes pierced right through him. "What is your name?"

"They call me Justine Night, my last name doesn't make any sense because I can't blend in to the night." She sighed and closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. They set their course to Katina and hoped to find out what happened to one of the bases there. They hoped that it won't be too bad. Who knows, maybe they are right.

**Wasn't too sure about the ending, please leave a review, in need criticism to help me along here.**


	2. Onward to Katina!

**Thanks for the reviews. A special thanks to ben mccloud for those ideas that I might use in the future :). I am planning to have a sequel to this story.**

After the pickup on Fichina and the introduction of Justine, there was truly nothing to do. ROB watched over the lupine with care and a sense of urgency. Peppy was in his room, reading the Cornerian Times, skimming over the articles. Falco was watching the radar, sure to alert the others just in case of anything out of the ordinary or anything hostile. Slippy was making yet another adjustment to his Arwing, bending over the mass of knotted wires with a look of concentration on his face. He did this for several hours until it was time to leave the _Great Fox_ yet again. Fox and Krystal were in Fox's room conversing about times before they met each other and current events. He even thought ahead and reserved a spare ship for Justine when she wakes up so the vulpine can give her some practice flying. He smiled when he thought of Justine; he briefly considered giving her a permanent spot on the team. He waved it off, meaning to ask her when she wakes up.

"Who do you think she is?" Krystal asked. Fox just sighed.

"I don't really know. The odd part is that we picked her up on Fichina, what would she be doing on _Fichina_?" That was a little hard to explain as he didn't know how she got on that forsaken planet anyway. They installed a climate control center but the employees must've had a vacation. Something about that struck a wrong chord with his reasoning.

_Why were they gone when we went down to the planet? Yesterday it was fine, what happened to them?_ He thought about bringing that up with Krystal but was interrupted.

"That is the odd part," Krystal smiled. "The even stranger part is that I couldn't even read her thoughts, much less yours. There must have been _something_ to interfere with my brain waves."

Fox frowned; leave it up to Krystal to find out another thing that is strange about the planet.

"When I was taught at Sauria, I was told that something specific does that but the name was not mentioned. When we get around to it, we must find out what it is and that means leaving Lylat."

Fox knew that, he remembered going to her homeworld before. It was a pretty place, no wonder the Lylatians called it the 'Dinosaur Planet' instead of Sauria. He remembered running when he saw the first dinosaur on the planet. He also remembered the Venom invasion soon after. His team plus Krystal was enough to take down their ground troops and save yet another planet from getting snared into Andross' evil grip.

"So leaving Lylat might be beneficial?"

"Yeah, we all heard about Andross getting banished to another, nearby system. He was then put in a prison facility with maximum security. If anyone tries to leave, they are stunned or shot, depending on what they did. I am surprised that he didn't get capital punishment yet."

"Does that rule follow in jurisdiction of that system if it comes from ours?'

"Depends if it was cleared by the General. It looks like Andross will spend the remainder of his life in the prison, slowly losing whatever shred of will he has left until he is nothing but a mere shell of who he was."

That was saying something, during the years before the war, it was all fine and dandy in Venom, Andross wasn't much of a threat until he snapped somewhere along the way. That sparked the Lylat War and numerous large scale battles leading up to the war and the final clash leading up to the capture of the ruler. Fox wanted to end Andross but he gave him a choice, to pay for his crimes or to die right there. That tactic was a diversion, Cornerian soldiers captured him and then got the hell out before the bomb was set and primed to go off. That destroyed his base and the resounding shock of the destruction rippled through the Venomians, crippling their potential forces but making them hold a grudge against the Cornerian Army.

That was the spark of another mini war, one that lasted for a week as their grudge lessened and disappeared eventually. As soon as they went back to Corneria, celebration was in place and the city was being rebuilt. That process took a month to clean up and a year to rebuild due to the sheer number of buildings to be fixed and reconstructed. They were reinforced by the latest shields that took a while to come in. Fox bought a few more ships due to all the credits he owned from the Lylat war and the conflict called the Venom Raid. Turning back to the conversation, the vulpine wrapped it up quickly and walked out of his room with Krystal following.

He checked up on his team members and gave them an update to the ETA which was about twelve hours. The duo then proceeded to their respective rooms and took a much deserved six hour nap.

Back in the medic bay, Justine snapped awake by the sound of footfalls coming in her direction. It was Fox, he took his time to get there and that planted the seed of respect inside of the lupine.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. All the tubes were gone and the monitor was unhooked and then carted away. There were green lights along the side of her bed, she was ok.

"Better, the hypothermia is gone and I can feel my arms and legs. I am a bit hungry though." Fox nodded and headed toward the kitchens where he could cook up something fast for her. And fast it was, the cooking time was an astonishing thirty seconds. When he came back, he had a heaping plateful of food. Her eyes widened and she asked how long it took. When the vulpine said it, her eyes widened further. Fox smiled, that was the normal reaction to those who never boarded his ship before. It amused him to no end seeing that it was from the government as a "gift" for his hard work and diligence after the war. It wasn't cheap either, when General Pepper told him the price, he couldn't fathom it one bit.

He left the lupine in peace as he checked the ETA, five hours and thirty minutes. Groaning, he checked on Slippy who was still working on modifying his Arwing. Falco finally got bored from watching the radar so he decided to get a cup of coffee.

"Must have coffee when I watch the radar," he grumbled as he walked by, mood taking a turn for the worse. Peppy was _still_ reading the _Cornerian Times _this time getting to the editorials.

Five hours later, they were assembled on the bridge. Peppy came out kind of mad that he got his paper swiped, Falco finished the whole pot of coffee and Slippy came reluctantly. Fox convinced Justine to come out as well.

"Good news, we are thirty minutes off of Katina."

"It is about time." Falco quipped.

Disregarding that last comment, Fox led them into the control room and gave them the rundown of the events.

"First off, we need to get to the main base and announce ourselves to Bill. Once we got that done, we will ask him where we can find the infiltrated base. We go there, get clues and get out; we don't need blasters but bring them just in case we run in to any trouble." His team nodded in response. "Finish preparations and meet me at the hangar bay in five." Once his team left, he turned to Justine.

"Do you really want to go?" She nodded. Fox smiled and headed toward the hangars. He seated the lupine into her Arwing and showed her the controls. After five minutes, she had a basic understanding of how the Arwing worked and his team assembled for the pre-flight check. Fox fired up his ship and checked the short range radar, nothing but the _Great Fox_ satisfied, he finished up his checks and his partners did the same.

"Com check," the vulpine stated.

"Hear ya," Falco responded.

"Hear you loud and clear," Peppy responded.

"Yeah." Slippy said.

"This is odd, but I like it," Justine remarked.

"Com system is online," Krystal said.

"Ok team, we are now ten minutes off of Katina, I put the ship in orbit and we are ready, ROB, open the hangar gate and unlock the locks." The robot beeped and the massive gate opened, spreading in light from Solar. His team blasted off toward Katina, the planets atmosphere was breeched within five minutes. They landed on the surface ten minutes later. The base doors opened up to them and they walked in the front door. Cornerian and Katinan soldiers saluted and Bill Grey greeted his team with a firm handshake. They followed him to the infiltrated base, leading toward the busted down back door.

"I have given you level two clearances, enough to get you to where you need."

"Thanks Bill," Fox said, holding out his paw for another handshake. Bill graciously took it and firmly shook it as before. They then crept into the bases innards. All their senses were fine tuned and Fox kept his paw on his blaster. Sure enough, some things were overturned in a hurry; the invaders must've been in a rush. They were amateurs as they quickly found out. They discovered two bodies near a steel door, Justine bent over them, studying them.

"They look like they knew what they were doing. What were they guarding?"

"Our clearance ends here though, we have what we need." Fox said, motioning for them to pull back and report to Bill. Harsh sunlight greeted them as they stepped out.

"Bill, we took careful observations about the condition of the room. It looks like they were looking for something due to the overturned furniture. The thing that disquiets me is that they were expert killers and they got the clearance card to go past that door. What was behind it?"

"It was a controversial weapon confiscated from the Venom Army during the Venom Raid. We took it and put it into documents after we no longer needed it."

"If they knew what they were looking for, did they make a run on the documents, taking them and running?"

"Most likely, I will look over the security tapes and contact you with the feed." Fox nodded.

"Alright, team; we got what we needed, let's go." And they went.

Fifteen minutes later, they were on the _Great Fox_, Fox seriously decided to give Justine a permanent spot on the team. He set the ships coordinates to the next possible planet they thought of.

"Justine yawned as she walked into the control room, "Where are we heading?"

Fox grinned, "Sauria."

**Please leave a review.**


	3. Encounter and Reunion

**Thanks to LegionsofHyrule, Cpt. Fox, Bryan Mccloud, and Justine for reviewing chapters one and two. A special thanks to Bryan Mccloud for ideas and The Pen Vs. The Sword for help. As always, remember to read and review :).**

"General Pepper, sir," a voice said, coming out of the intercom. "Incoming transmission!"

The general sighed, "Patch it through." The screen in front of him lit up with a picture of Bill.

"General, I found something big. I am going to show you this," a video feed popped up show the base interior. "I am going to patch it through to Star Fox." The picture faded and the screen shut down.

Fox stood on the bridge of the_ Great Fox_ looking outside the plasma-proof windows.

_Today was the day that my dad died._ He thought bitterly,_ he would be proud of what I have done_. Deciding to go to Krystal's room, he opened the door and walked down there. Once there, Krystal wasn't there which struck him odd.

"Krystal?" He called, "I want to talk to you." Krystal's door opened and it showed the blue vixen.

"Hey, what do you want?"

"I want to-" He was cut off when ROB's voice was on the intercom.

"Incoming transmission, all personnel report to the control room." Fox sighed and he got up from her bed. Taking the vixen by the hand, he led her to the familliar room.

His team was already there, he punched a few buttons and a familliar person popped up.

"Star Wolf," Fox growled.

"Star Fox," Wolf O'Donnel said.

"What do you want from us?"

"I want no quarrel with you, I believe we hold the same destination in mind. You were just at Katina?"

"Yeah."

"I spotted a bunch of Cornelian starships are on their way. They said that raids were planned on Katina." A message popped up.

"Wolf, we have an oncoming video feed, transferring it to you." He opened the link to his ship and sent it over. They silently watched the video, the problem was, they didn't carry Venom flags.

"Not us," Wolf said.

Fox was immediately suspicious, "how can you be so sure?"

"I assure you, we never laid our paws on that base" Wolf smiled.

"Why did they dispatch Cornerian starships?" Slippy asked

Wolf flashed another grin. "To investigate, I feel like there is something _suspicious_ about those characters."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Falco questioned.

The video paused and then zoomed in. "Like this, they are unarmed except for a small knife. They also came under heavy fire from the guards, equipped like this, nothing stands a chance so why did they live?" Fox couldn't answer that, he played the video and it seemed like the mysterious figures _dodged_ the plasma bolts.

"They lived because of their acute agility; they seem to overpower us in being agile." Wolf responded. "Our main question is who are they and why did they attack Katina?'

"No idea, my question is that why are you not attacking us?"

Wolf laughed, "After Andross got banished, we tried to follow him but it was all for naught. He turned on us and we turned on him as a result of his incompitence to accept us."

"What are you going to do now?"

Wolf ran all possible things to say through his mind only coming up with one.

"I... don't know, I never thought about it," he confessed. "We thought about disbanding but it was too drastic. We have to negotiate a cease-fire." Fox pondered, shocked that he would suggest such a thing.

"A cease-fire? Let me and my team think about it." Wolf disconnected, grinning.

Fox huddled around his team. Krystal was the first to chime in

"He does have good intentions."

"Yeah, but does that make him trustworthy?" Falco asked.

"If she says it is fine and we can trust him, it'll be all right." Fox said, motioning to the vixen. He turned to the screen.

"We accept, lead your Wolvens over to the docking bay to get tuned up."

Wolf smiled warmly, "Excellent." Soon enough, the hangar opened and two Wolvens slowly flew in, when they were locked, the cockpits opened up. In the center, Wolf came out of his fighter looking weary from the long trip. A black panther came from his left; he nodded to Wolf and turned his attention to the blast door as it opened up. Fox pretty much ran the whole way to greet his nemesis and rival. What he didn't expect was Panther.

"What happened to the rest of your team?" the vulpine asked.

"In due time, I will tell you. Lead me to the lounge room." Fox obliged, taking him to the room that he asked for. All his team was there, save for Slippy, who was taking care of his ship. Krystal was the first one to react.

"_You!"_ She shouted to Panther. His eyes grew wide with surprise.

"Krystal?" He said, drawing closer to the vixen.

"Stay away from me!" She nearly yelled. Wolf drew back, unaware of her fury and Fox took a minor step back. "It was because of_ you_ that I left. My life was ruined and I had to spend a year of my life as a bounty hunter! I should've came after you when I had the chance!"

"Look, I can explain" He slowly said, dragging out the syllables.

"No! You can't explain! I never want to see you ever again." She took Fox by the arm and led him to her room. She was literally shaking with rage, when Fox put a paw on her shoulder, it faded slightly.

"Krys, I am so sorry." The vulpine said softly.

"It is not your fault; he treated me poorly after you dumped me. He wanted me to be his _plaything_. When I knew that I didn't want him anymore, I abandoned Star Wolf and immediately fled to Corneria." Fox wrapped his arm around her back, comforting her more.

"I was not welcome, when Pepper caught wind of me being here, he told me to leave or I will be arrested for aiding the enemy. I stayed on a distant planet and became a cold, ruthless being." Her voice broke as a tear ran down her cheek. "I turned to you when I heard you were on your way to do some business. After Panther, I had no one but you."

Fox smiled, she cared that much for him and that was all that mattered in the world. He regretted the day that he had the argument, the one that ruined their already fragile relationship. He sadly cast her off, unwilling to forget about her even if the universe didn't allow it. He kept the memory alive and it paid off. He told her he was sorry and offered her a spot on the team, she graciously accepted and the bond was renewed once more. But it was Panther that threw a rock in their relationship. Krystal was torn from seeing her ex and she hated his guts. For fifteen minutes, Fox held her and comforted her to a point where she could face Panther again. She bravely strode in the lounge room with Fox in tow, took Panther's arm and forcibly led him to a hallway.

"_Don't talk to me, don't speak to me, and definitely don't say those three little words."_ She hissed, twisting his arm._ "If I catch wind of you talking to, abusing or coming near Fox for a lovely chat, I will make your life a living hell until I see you leave or die." _She struck him across the face.

"_That_ was for being a jerk." She venomously walked away, leaving a confused and hurt panther behind. When she entered the room, Fox stood up, holding a cup of tea. He offered the vixen the tea and she took it.

"Now, tell me about Star Wolf." Fox said.

"I was just getting to that, after the Lylat War, Andrew followed Andross to the Glang System and started a new life. Leon pretty much went insane for two years and I had to get rid of him because he was being such a pest. I am sure he is somewhere, living his own life. After that, I disbanded Star Wolf because Pigma was dead and I had no one to care for me.

"I found Panther on a spaceport soon after Andrew ditched us and we picked him up hoping that he would be a good addition. He was, when he found Krystal on a barren planet, he took her in and cared for her. All that was for naught, one week later, he started to mistreat her and she ditched Panther. We found you and decided that we needed company." Fox nodded, it being sufficient enough to make him believe that he is harmless. Fox took Krystal's arm and led her to his room and made her sit down.

"Thanks," the vixen said, giving Fox a hug.

"No problem," he responded. "I hate it when you feel threatened; I have to make you feel better."

The vixen smiled, happy that he was there to make her feel much better.

"I regret what happened that day," he continued. "That gives me the reason to fight harder. I know that when the fight was over, I have something to look forward to."

"How about you and me go on a vacation sometime." Krystal proposed

"Yes, that would be a good thing. It would give us a small break from life. When we get done with the Sauria run, we will take a vacation on a small island on Aquas"

They sat there for the next ten minutes, only enjoying their presence with each other. All that mattered to Fox was Krystal, he didn't know what he would do without her. He even thinks that he can't live without her. They were on their way to Sauria, Fox wondered how she will react to seeing the planet again. Fox worried about the state of the planet Zoness. During the Lylat War, something major happened to the planet. The life got killed off by toxic waste radiating from the ocean. Up to a year ago restoration projects were ordered for the sake of the planet and its inhabitants. Now, the planet has sentient life and a few defense posts to ward off invaders.

The main story was Area 6. After the War, it was a main battleground for a few small scale battles and even a few large ones. It was the last line of defense for Venom and its dwindling army. It was under control by the Cornerians for a brief amount of time and then control came under the Venomians. It went like this up untill the present when Cornerian troops thought it was enough and destroyed it outright. It didn't fly well back home. For a straight week, riots were in the streets and they were protesting the destruction of Area 6. Luckily, Star Fox wasn't there at the time but Pepper called them up several times giving them several important updates.

Now, Fox was kind of nervous for the upcoming visit to Sauria. Would they remember him or would they retaliate for fighting in the skies two years ago. During that time, Sauria came under fire from Venom forces, the natives there fought back bravely and won. The only problem was that Star Fox never showed up even when Star Wolf came on that planet. They sent out several distress calls and signals for them to receive, they never responded.

"Krys?" Fox said. "Do you think that we will get a break soon?"

A pause, "Maybe soon at least, I hope." Satisfied with her answer, the vulpine stood up and walked nonchalantly out of the room.

'_Maybe soon huh? We'll see about that."_

**And Star Wolf tags along, for now. I loved writing the reaction between Krystal and Panther, Read and Review as always. A little bit of constructive criticism helps too.**


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